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...and, again, unless you know an English major or someone else who really knows how they work and who's willing to proofread your writing, you will use them wrong...

That's a bit pessimistic, don't you think?Ã,  I say, if it sounds right, use it.Ã,  How many master etymologists could possibly play our games?

BaRoN

This game looks like it will be really fun!  I don't care how slow you work or how long it takes, so long as you finish this game!  Look forward to the final product,

BaRoN

I agree with Snarky -> two hundred years ago English really wasn't all that different, and it certainly wasn't "archaic".

If you really wanted to use archaic English (i.e. Middle or Old English) then large parts of your dialogue would be next to incomprehensible by today's Everyman.  I suggest you just spice the language with commonly known anachronisms: thou instead of you, thee instead of you (accusative), thy instead of your, hast instead of have, art instead of are....  Try also to use simple words of Anglo-Saxon origin rather than the more complex words English has inherited from Latin.  A good way to tell if it's Latin is that there are usually prefixes and suffixes attached.  So use "old" instead of "archaic", or "good" instead of "exemplary", etc.... (I mean "and so on.....") 

BaRoN

Alright it took me two hours and I was just about ready to quit after trying one last thing but I was FINALY able to duplicate your Enchantress freeze bug!Ã,  It turns out it was a bit of ghost code left over from when the flame that imprisons the Enchantress was the same one that the Dragon shot at you when you face him.Ã,  I guess not many people survived the Dragon flame before they freed the Enchantress, and so the bug wasn't spotted or reported.Ã,  Anyway, there is now an updated version ready for download on the games page here or at www.vanwijst.com/games.Ã,  It fixes this bug and the "plot inconsistency" of the Vulture Resurrection.

SHARYN:

Spoiler

The version you have SHOULD still work as long as you don't face the dragon wearing your longjohns BEFORE you free the Enchantress.Ã,  Unfortunately you're going to have to start from scratch either way since there is no way to fix the bug remotely.Ã,  Sorry!Ã,  And thanks for reporting the bug -at least future players won't suffer the same frustrations.Ã,  Thanks!

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Thanks to everyone who reported the bugs!Ã,  Now hopefully we can all get on with enjoying the game!

BaRoN

Yes the bug only seems to occur under special circumstances but the fact that it can recurr at all is most vexing.  There's only so many times that a game author can play through a game to debug it before he goes cRaZy, so after error reports stop coming in one just sort of assumes the game to be bug free.  However, since I have been informed otherwise I will get on this immediately when I get home.  Thanks to everyone for identifying the errors,

BaRoN

Well, I tried to duplicate your problem and I was able to get the Vulture back to life.  I think I know what the problem is, but all the game files are on my computer at home so it will have to wait for the weekend for me to fix it.  It really shouldn't affect the rest of the game if you just ignore the fact that the bird is still alive, but killing him over and over again "might" lead to the game crashing.  I hesitate to suggest that you try the game again but if you do here's what you need to do after you get to the witch:

Spoiler

You put the dragon's blood, the worm and the feather into the cauldron and then talk to the witch.  She'll give you a wand and with that, the gnome's horn and the longjohns you can fight the dragon.

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.

BaRoN

Hmmmmm....  This is most distressing....
      A similar error was occuring back in November when the game was first released.  Do I understand correctly that:

     

Spoiler

The flame around the witch is gone, but it is still impossible to interact with her?  And that eventually when you try to free her the game freezes?

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      The first thing I can think of is that you might have acquired the old version of the game -i.e. before these problems were fixed.  If you look at the twr_readme file that came in the game folder you downloaded and look at the very bottom under "credits" see if Scorpiorus and his snow-rain plug-in are listed.  I missed him out in the old version of the game, but I believe he is only listed in the most recent version.  Another way you can tell it's the most recent version is that the Hermit's dialogue cycles instead of being random.  If you think you're playing an old version I'm afraid you're going to have to get the most recent version from either http://www.vanwijst.com/games or from the games page on AGS (I think it's on page 9 still).  Also in that event, please post or PM me to identify where you got this version from -I think Hajo is distributing all the games that are nominated for AGS awards, so perhaps he's got an older version?
      If you ARE playing with the most recent version PLEASE tell me asap and I'll go looking for the bug.  No one's experienced this for a long while so it might be something very obscure....
      Finally, I'm very sorry this problem has interrupted your gaming experience.  It usually runs quite smoothly -honest!

BaRoN

[The Winter Rose]

For your consideration, I submit The Winter Rose



It is available here.

The game is about a young archer girl who must save her forest home from an eternal winter that has been brought on by an evil ice dragon.Ã,  Not bad for one (run on) sentence, eh?

Categories that this game might be suitable for are:

Best Story, on the basis of originality I suppose...
Best Gameplay because of the 'Retry' function after you die that enables the player never to be set back for testing theories or exploring options.
Best Background Art for the reason that it was all hand painted but then integrated realistically into the game.
Best Animation because of variety of crazy things the main character had to do (shoot her bow, pull arrows out of things, climb frozen waterfalls, row boats, throw snowballs, drink liquor, fall through ice, slide down mountains, start a fire, climb a tree, shake a gnome, throw a bucket of water, fight a dragon, etc....)
Best Puzzles because.... um....Ã,  they integrated landscapes as well as objects.Ã,  And of course because they were good!
Best Dialogue for reasons of amusement and information without vast and confusing dialogue trees.

That's about it, I guess, even though a few of the categories are a bit of a stretch.Ã,  Feel free to come up with your own reasons why this game should deserve at least one award!Ã,  C'mon guys, at least one!Ã,  Thanks for your consideration,

BaRoN

Rach,

Spoiler

You should have a long conversation with the Abominable Snowman.

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Er....  Not really but

Spoiler

You obviously can't squish the three musicians or you can't finish the game.  Originally I had intended for the game to end when the population got down to a certain number (through disease or squishing), but since I ran out of time I had to cut the whole disease thing.  So, yes, you really should have a healthy population of cells left to save with your "cure", but no, in the game's current state, I suppose you could kill all but three and still win!  I assure you this still won't be the case when I polish it up!

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BaRoN

PARANOIA: If it isn't mentioned explicitly in the rules, then there's no restriction.  So yes, you can make the game any resolution/pallette depth you want!

Yeah, freewebs froze my old account because I was burning up too much bandwidth distributing my games, and for some reason I couldn't find the walkthrough file to post on my new site.  Fortunately there is another hints and tips thread in this forum on Al-Quest 1 where someone has posted the walkthrough.  Here it is:

Spoiler

This is the walkthrough for Al-Quest 1.   DO NOT READ FURTHER if you don't want the game solutions (spoilers).

There are three distinct things you have to do.  You discover this by reading the note on your bedroom floor:

1)Rid your apartment of rats.
2)Come up with a way to pay rent.
3)Make a difference in the world.

RIDDING YOUR APARTMENT OF RATS:

-Go to junk yard gate and get FLOSS and SHARP CAN out of the trash.
-Go to the main street and pick up the WASHER.
-Go to cheese factory and catch DOG (you have to run into him with your character).
-Use FLOSS on WASHER.
-Go to bar and use FLOSS AND WASHER on the arcade game.
-Defeat Game (it's easy if you just go to one side and wait it out).
-Get Prize (RABBIT'S FOOT).
-Go to fortune teller's and exchange RABBIT'S FOOT for KEY and information.
-Go to brown house and knock on door.  Give the lady the DOG and get her fresh CHERRY PIE.
-Go to back yard and penetrate shrubbery (there's a path between the two bottom most trees).
-Get MAGIC MUSHROOM.
-Go to winter scene and use KEY to get into mill.
-Get WRENCH inside mill.
-Go to Kitchen and eat MAGIC MUSHROOM.
-Look in the mouse hole and go to main cavern.
-Walk towards sacrifice victim (ignore priest and guard).
-Use SHARP CAN to free the sacrifice victim, then ride him out by way of the bottom path.  Do this quickly because the priest will chase you and try to kill you.
-Go to pipe room and use WRENCH on the leak.  The subsequent flood will kill the rats.  Leave room by looking or interacting with the empty pipe.
-Eat CHERRY PIE as soon as you emerge or risk getting eaten by a giant bird.

COMING UP WITH A WAY TO PAY RENT

-Go to living room and get CROWBAR.
-Go to office room (next to living room) and use CROWBAR on second bottom dresser drawer, and get PASSWORD.
-Use PASSWORD on phone in living room.  Listen to message.
-Go to kitchen and get GUM out of waste bins.
-Go to convenience store and use GUM on floor, and then get MATCHES once shopkeeper distracted.
-Go to bar and give barfly MATCHES.  Get ROLLING PAPERS after he knocks them off the bar.
-Go to backyard and penetrate shrubbery (if you're confused read the section above).
-Get MAGIC MUSHROOM.
-Use MAGIC MUSHROOM with CIGARETTE ROLLING PAPERS and give result to gangster behind Luigi's (alley off of main street).
-Get LOOT out of dumpster.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD

-Go to living room and get AQUARIUM.
-Go to kitchen and dump fishes into sink.  Then use AQUARIUM to put out the fire.
-Get pot, then go to freezer and get SOY ICE CREAM.
-Talk to girl waiting for bus outside your house.  Give her SOY ICE CREAM and get BANDANA.
-Talk to EGG HEAD (same place).  Give him BANDANA and get DEATH RAY.
-You should get a key from the fortune teller.  Read above section on how to do this. 
-Get JUNK YARD KEY from floor by barfly (he'll knock it off the bar when you give him matches).
-Go to backyard and walk through shrubbery.
-Go to winter scene and get GLASS STATUE.
-Go to optics store and trade GLASS STATUE for THICK LENS.
-Use THICK LENS on DEATH RAY.  You will notice that you will need some coal power.
-Use POT on DEATH RAY.  Your death ray is now ready to kill.
-Go to junk yard gate and use JUNK YARD KEY to gain entry.
-Go deeper into the junk yard and face the giant robot.  Use DEATH RAY on robot.

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GAME EXPLANATION: The original concept of this game was that it would all take place inside of this micro-organism, and all the characters would be NPCs (non-player characters).  The whole thing was designed to be a mystery, meaning that you'd have to go around listening to each 'cell' and examine their characters, and then put the information to good use.  The plot was supposed to revolve around the cells slowly dying off, one by one (preferably after going into a kind of zombie mode for a couple of minutes), and your task would be to find a cure before the society shrunk to an unsustainable size.  Unfortunately I ran out of time, since the MAGS contest deadline was November 25, and so I had to cut the whole zombie/death thing out, along with the time constraints that this would have imposed.  I tried to make up for it through descriptive dialogue in the intro, but I don't think it really had the same effect.  Also, I don't think the clues were as good as they could have been, leaving people puzzled about what to do (even after they'd already done it correctly!).  So I think a little more work is in order, after a suitable period for reflection and relaxation of course....

BaRoN

Thanks to all who voted for me!
I tip my hat to Radiant: great game.  Mine might have won but I think your game format has a lot of potential if is made into more of an adventure.
As for my game, it was a bit rushed and I think it shows.  I have plans to polish it up a bit when I can spare the time.  Hopefully you'll see it in the completed games forum in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully....
I look forward to seeing LOTS of entries for December: most people get more time off during this month, and there will be a simply irresistable theme....

a-MAZE-ing! 

Oh, c'mon, you knew someone was going to say it. 

Seriously, however, I think this type of platform might support some very interesting AGS adventure games.  Do you have any plans to create a limited-3-D adventure?

BaRoN

Oh well, Zor -looks like they beat us to it.Ã,  Ã, Oh well....

Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  V. 2.6 FOR EVER!!!!!!!!

....I mean....(*cough*).... where did that come from?

Here is a copy of the old demo quest:

DEMO QUEST .

I think I've loaded the ac2game.ags file with AGS version 2.6 most recently, but I doubt I would have altered it so it will probably work on previous versions (if you want to see the scripting).

I'm sure this has been asked elsewhere, but is there anybody out there working on an updated Demo Quest?Ã,  And how about the help manual for v. 2.7 -when I downloaded it HELP wouldn't work and, since I use that feature VERY FREQUENTLY, I haven't made the jump to the most recent version.

Back to the first point: I'm sure a lot of people complain about the lack of an updated Demo Quest, but no one actually wants to do it.Ã,  I remember Demo Quest being my second best resource (next to the HELP feature, of course) when I was learning how to script.Ã,  So, who would I talk to about volunteering to do a room or two for a "Demo Quest Two: It's Demo Time"?

BaRoN

My website listed in this thread is outdated -I don't think it's even up anymore.Ã,  My new website is at http://www.vanwijst.com/games .

This project is looking good!  I like the fact that each room seems to have a lot going on (potentially useful inventory items laying around, potentially useful papers with clues to look at, etc.) -it will keep the user thinking.

One Question: Why are cyllindrical objects, and only cyllindrical objects, drawn....er.....roughly?

Look forward to seeing the completed game!

BaRoN

Oh, it's soooooo true!  The game is completely half-baked.  I didn't get started at this game until Nov. 11 and the competition closed Nov. 25 -there was so much I wanted to add, to explain, to include!  Oh well, I guess time makes fools of us all....

BaRoN